Dance of the Dead
by Aster Arsenal
Summary: to FatCat648: Halloween is coming! And this guy is abducting people in Tokyo, so I hope the fic is better than i'm making it sound. NOT an AU. Rated T just in case. Please read it...
1. Chapter 1

I'm really dumb. I should have learned from the last time not to try doing a mystery in a one-shot. Oh,well. It's a whole week late, and coming out in chapters, but it's here. Hopeflly, I can get this all done before my birthday.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Katrina: Ready..

Sarina: Set...

Chabela: ...GO!

* * *

Dance of the Dead: For FatCat648

Chapter One: The Beginning

"KAORUKENSHINYAHIKOSANO!" A hyperactive ninja girl was running through the gates of the Kamiya grounds.

"Misao!" Kaoru started running out of the dojo in her white gi and blue hakama. Misao crashed into her with a bear hug and knocked Kaoru over.

"Hey! How'd you know I was here?" Sanosuke came out of the main house to see Kaoru brushing the dirt off of her training outfit.

"Isn't it obvious? You're always here being your chickeny self freeloading off of us!" Ooooh, Yahiko. That was uncalled for. And unnecessary. Sano couldn't think of a comeback to say, so he said

"…." Nothing.

"Hello Misao-dono." As I'm sure you've all guessed, Kenshin came into the scene.

"Yahiko-_chan_, say hello." Sano finally thought of something to say, but the response was so late, and so poorly thought up, Yahiko didn't even dignify it with a glare.

"I have news!" Misao was jumping up and down while clapping hyperistically.

"What is it?" Sano was curious to know what exactly was making the young okashira so excited. This was too hyper, even for Misao!

"I just learned about this western holiday where people dress up in costumes and the children go asking around for sweets! It's called Halloween!" She started to space out and drool. 'Sugar……' Misao came back to earth and started her speech again. "But instead there's going to be a festival and the shops are giving out sweet goodness and once it turns twelve am and its November first there will be fire works! And we get to wander around in costume! I already have a costume. I'm going as a bunny-human crossbreed!"

"Um, ok…" Sano was expecting something different. Misao was so excited to tell them, that she ran _way_ ahead of Aoshi and Hiko, who decided to take their time in getting there. Hiko was thinking of ways to embarrass Kenshin, using the western holiday Misao kept hollering about. Rohaweenie, was it? He had the perfect plan in his head when the two of them arrived.

"Good afternoon Hiko-san." Kaoru bowed down to him. Hiko bowed back.

"Do you have any plans for Rohaweenie?" Hiko raised an eyebrow as Kenshin snickered.

"It's Halloween! Halloween!" Misao screamed, frustrated. Hiko cleared his throat.

"Oh."

"I'm thinking about going to the festival as a monster." Kaoru was putting a lot of thought into this, as it was her first time celebrating Halloween, and she wanted to make a statement.

"You wouldn't need a costume, at least." Again, uncalled for Yahiko. But he was itching to taunt Kaoru.

"Shut up, _chicken wing_." She shot back. Yahiko was fuming. To be compared to that… that… idiot! He couldn't think of anything to say, repeating Sano's actions; minus the late response.

"Please come in." The group took Kaoru's invitation, and then talked about the event that was going to happen in exactly 10 days. How were they supposed to make costumes by then? This was really short notice! Of course, no one was caring. They were too wrapped up in the plans for the festival to notice.

"Wait!" Misao shouted, quieting down the room, which was so loud, um, well, it's kind of hard to explain really, but it was _seriously_ loud.

"I'll get Megumi. I don't want to leave her out."

"Sure. Whatever." The way Misao said it, Yahiko thought the message was actually important. Who cared if she let Megumi know about the festival as long as they went? So Misao left. And the room was considerably quieter than before, because Misao was of course, making most of the noise in the first place. As she took the oh-so-unfamiliar route to the Oguni clinic, she wondered 'Do I know where I'm going?'

This made Misao stop in her tracks. What's the point in going somewhere, if you don't know how to get there? Meaning she had to postpone her quest of fulfilling Megumi's non-existent dream of being anything she wanted for a day. It took about a half hour just to get the information she needed, because there were many people who were bad at giving directions, so they made absolutely no sense.

By the time she got to Megumi's clinic, it was late afternoon. She heard many sobs coming from the inside of the clinic, and as Misao walked in, she saw several distressed families. 'Was there a massacre or something?' She padded over to Megumi.

"What's going on?" Megumi jumped up, like, half Misao's height (about two and a half feet), and turned around.

"You startled me!"

"Sorry. Why are there so many people?"

"Ugh. At least one person in their family has been kidnapped." Misao shuddered. _At least?_ "They should go to the police for this! I can't find them! I'm not a psychiatrist either! I only heal _physical_ wounds. This place should have a mental institution or something! And-''

"Calm. Down." Megumi blinked twice confusedly. "Could you please start over?" Misao started to tune Megumi out because she was repeating the same things using different words, and realized that she had no idea what Megumi was talking about. Megumi took a deep breath.

"Okay. Someone's been kidnapping random people off the streets. I don't know who, or why, and neither do the families of the missing. They just vanish, and if they didn't have any relatives or friends, it's like they would never have existed, because no one saw any suspicious activity."

"Creepy."

"Isn't it? I would hate it if someone I knew and loved just disappeared like that." The thing was, Megumi _did_ hate it. After all, she kind of was in that situation, with her having a 'non-existent' family. Misao decided to voice these words to get Megumi out of working:

"The Oguni clinic will be open for comfort from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting tomorrow. For now, go away." There were now many angry people, because of how Misao brushed them off like they were breakfast crumbs on a western table cloth.

"That was mean, but thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"I just did." Misao scowled, but Megumi was only telling the truth.

"Gensai-sensei! Would you take over the clinic for the rest of the day?"

"Okay."

"Thank you."

* * *

Sabrina: flip-flop has had a bad week. She has gotten a 3-day fever, forgotten over 35 of her homework, and finally, twisted her ankle while playing soccer, but kept playing because she didn't want to tie to Immaculate Conception _again_. And in the end, she just made her ankle worse, and she still tied 0-0. But this isn't about her. It's about those poor missing people. Where are they? Who kidnapped them? When will they be found? How are their families doing? Why do flip-flop's pop-tarts taste like **original flavor** trident?! 

Katrina: You ask a lot of questions, don't you.

flip-flop: YOU'VE been stealing my pop-tarts! 0.o

Chabela: Review. It'll put flip-flop in a better mood, so that Sabrina won't get in as much trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

Yesness!(It's a new catch phrase). Part 2 is out!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

Chabela: It's go time.

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Dance of the Dead: for Fatcat648 

Chapter Two: Um…Yeah, It's Another Chapter…

A while later, they appeared at their destination to find everyone gathered into the dojo and Hiko at the front at the audience, looking like he was about to give a speech. He looked over at Misao and Megumi.

"I sensed it was time to get ready." Figures. He _was_ going to give a speech. After Megumi and Misao sat down, Hiko cleared his throat and opened up a scroll. At least it was a well prepared speech. Unseen to the eyes of the audience though, was the title of the scroll, which was 'Project: Let's all make fun of Kenshin, and embarrass him so bad he wants to live under a rock for the rest of his lowly life'. Wow, what a long title.

"I, Hiko Seijirou the 13th, challenge you, Himura Kenshin, to a dare."

"I accept…"

"Fool! Haven't I taught you common sense? You need to know what you're agreeing to before you agree!" This confused Kenshin, because if the dare was really this bad, why would Hiko warn him about agreeing _after_ he agreed?

"What exactly is it that I'm doing? And is all this-'' Kenshin gestured towards the mini audience "- really necessary?" The small audience Kenshin waved to was currently missing one person. Well, it was missing his mind. Shinomori Aoshi was spacing ou-, _meditating_. With his eyes open too. He was picking at the floor playing 'exterminate all the little dirt specks'. And the game goes something like this:

'DoDooDooDoo! DumDaDooDoo! DooDunDanDunnnnnn!!!!! Oh no! There's a little speck! Who cleans these floors! They're filthier than Misao's bed used to be every single morning when she was five! Bam! Gone! Wait, it's still here! Whoa, it's like, a whole sea of specks! And they keep reproducing! Like those single-celled bacteria thingies! Go binary fission! Hey, the specks are moving! Why can't they go away?! There are practically millions of these things! Hey, wait, that's my shadow….'

"Hmph, wouldn't you like to know. And yes, this is necessary. Or your friends won't know why you're wearing a dress on Halloween."

"Huh?!"

"You are to dress up as a _female_." Kenshin stared in disbelief. 'Is this a joke?', he thought confusedly.

"No, this is not a joke." It was as if Hiko had read Kenshin's mind. He probably did. "On Halloween, you go as a female, and if more than four people confuse you for one, I tell embarrassing stories about you." Aoshi was still tuning out the conversation. "For every person after four, one story is told about you."

"This sound well planned." It was. "Is there any reason I _have_ to do this?"

"No. This was a test of your intelligence. And you failed." Kenshin cheered up; a small ray of hope shone. Maybe, he didn't have to do this.

"You still have to do this." Kenshin felt somewhat violated, and creeped out. Hiko read his mind again.

"Whhhhyyyyyyy?" He said in a somewhat whiny voice.

"Because your pain is funny. And this might be the only chance I get to embarrass you with stories in front of your friends while all you can do is stand there and watch because you gave your word. Heh, I like the sound of that." Kenshin again, stared in disbelief. Hiko was being out of character, like he was being possessed by some evil spirit that fed off of people's embarrassment. Wait, there was _some_ resemblance; the usual Hiko was just more subtle about it.

"OROOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Hiko likes the sound of it! It makes you wonder what stories Hiko plans on telling, doesn't it?

"You can choose your dress though."

"Lucky me."

"What? Who else would?"

"Poor Kenshin," Kaoru started. "How is he supposed to win this?" Sano spoke up, after watching the conversation play out.

"He won't." He turned to Kenshin. "It's been nice knowing you buddy, because if these stories are as embarrassing as your Shishou's making them sound, you'll want to die. Try suicide." Kenshin smiled. He appreciated Sano's attempt to cheer him up.

"Thank you Sano."

"You're welcome." Misao was snickering, and Megumi seemed to be thinking of a way to use this to her advantage.

"Sky blue." She said simply.

"Oro?" Scary... The room, in a creepy instance of mind control by our favorite angel, decided they had stuff to do at the exact same time, and got up, at the same time. Except Aoshi. He decided he had to space out, and study the wood patterns of the floor.

"Misao, why is Aoshi staring at the floor in complete fascination?" Sano asked, as though he was trying to ask the question as calmly as possible, without sounding he was scared of Aoshi's , um, insaneness…

"He's meditating." She stated.

"With his eyes open?" He questioned.

"Aoshi-sama does this _a lot_. It's a type of meditation." Sanosuke wasn't buying this. That was the dumbest crap he ever heard.

"Should I wake him up?" Sano whispered to Megumi, referring to Aoshi's state of sub-consciousness.

"Let him _sleep_." She answered.

* * *

Hiya! This chapter was strange, wasn't it... And it was kind of like too muck information was in one area.. But I can't figure out how not to do that... 

**Fatcat648**: Things are looking up! Sorry about when you twisted your ankle, though it's kind of late to say that now... Good luck back!

**kaiju29**: Yesness! Goodness to the everythingsbetterness! Yeah, that word was supposed to be squished together... Whoa, I have to meet this friend of yours someday. You know, for a Misao model... I don't think Misao seriously came off as hyper. sigh Must work harder!!! O.O That's my determined face!

Katrina: Why do you love to make Aoshi out-of-charachter? And why is Sabrina in a cage?

Sabrina: LEMMEOUTLEMMEOUTLEMMEOUTLEMMEOOOOOUUUUUUT!!!!!!

flip-flop: I've realized a lot of things this past week. That I hate my teacher because she steals my catchphrases, even though I don't talk around her, that I have no life, and that there may be no way to figure out why my pop-tatrs taste like gum. I tried doing an ingredient search, but is to lazy to put up all the ingredients. And that Sabrina's been stealing my skittles too!

Chabela: I wonder what it would have been like if no one reviewed.

flip-flop: Much, much worse. Buahahahahaha!

Sabrina: Review please! So that I can live the life that flip-flop does'nt have. She might take me out of the cage if you do.

flip-flop: Hey! Just for that, another week.

Sabrina: NOOOOOOOO!!!!


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